Rainy days bore active kids. Even inactive kids feel the dreariness of a rainy day. You could spend rainy days curled up on the couch watching television with your children or do something interactive like creative homemade activities. The following activities are just a few ways to keep your kids active and happy on rainy days.
Depending on your children’s ages, imagination games can be a good way to spend a rainy day. Turn a room into a pirate ship with just a few eye patches (easily made with a little black fabric or even construction paper and string). Go on a camping adventure by turning a few sheets into a tent (just drape them over furniture and improvise until you have a workable tent). A small pup tent in the middle of a large room is another way to make this happen. You can even make s’mores to go along with this rainy day imagination game. Create any imaginary adventure you want by finding things around the house to turn into an imagination game.
One fun science activity you can do with your kids on a rainy day is making colored milk spirals. All you need is a little bit of milk, a shallow bowl, food coloring and some grease-cutting dish liquid. First, pour a shallow puddle of milk onto the bowl (or edged plate). Next, add one drop of each shade of food coloring near the center of the puddle. Keep the drops away from each other by at least half an inch. Lastly, place one or two drops of the dishwashing liquid in the center of the bowl. Your kids will be amazed at what happens. Instead of being distracted by the rainy day, they will focus on the color swirls that are appearing in the bowl of milk.
If your kids are home all day on any given rainy day, you have a lot more time to keep them occupied. You can do this by taking a traditional Christmas past-time — making gingerbread houses — and turning it into an everyday homemade craft. All you need is some frosting, candy and graham crackers. Instead of making them Christmas themed with candy canes and sprinkles, you can make them suit the rainy day’s season. If it is summertime, put watermelon slices (the candy) and bright-colored frosting on your house. If it’s autumn, use browns, yellows, and oranges to decorate. This can occupy kids for hours if you decide to make a big enough house.
These and a number of other indoor activities can fill a boring rainy day with family fun. Instead of sitting and listening to the rain bouncing off the windows, you can fill your house with the sound of chatting and laughter to drown out the raindrops. That is, of course, if you do not need the raindrop sound as a backdrop for a rainforest adventure.
